The Bytesmiths Editions Newsletter October 2002

Topics

Apologies!

I've been busy preparing for my fall classes (most of which are full and wait-listed), getting ready for Portland Open Studios (see below), doing website work, and working on other projects.

I'd like to thank the many of you who have written nice things about my feature articles. (Blush!) Call it "writer's block," or call it "too busy," but I find I just don't have the energy to do a creative piece this month.

I'll be back, though! Working on my late, late, late taxes aught to provide plenty of rant fodder for the next issue... :-)

And The Winner Is...

I've known Mark since the mid-80's, when we worked together at Tektronix on the Smalltalk programming environment. Last I heard, Mark was known as "the last Smalltalker at Tek," diligently working on a Tek-internal analog design tool written in Smalltalk.

Each newsletter, I give away a signed, open-edition opaque print in an acid-free mat, ready for framing, to a random email newsletter subscriber. (Winners are ineligible to win again for a year.)

Website Changes

The changes are not splashy or readily visible; they're mostly deep changes in the way things work.

Site Searching

For example, each page now has a fill-in on the left side. Type a word or two in here, and press "Enter", and you'll get back a Google-style list of pages that contain those words.

(Please have patience with this version of searching. It may take 30 seconds or more to return results. I plan to speed it up by a factor of 10 or so in the next couple months.)

Discussion Area

Also, I've added a Wiki. You can access it by using the "Discuss" link on the left side of each page.

What's a "Wiki?" In Hawiian, it means "quick." On the Internet, it's a unique collaborative content system that allows rapid change.

Simply put, it allows multiple people to contribute to discussions, but unlike other such systems, Wiki allows people to collaboratively edit each other's contributions. It also allows you to make your own instant links, by using "Wiki Words," Which are WordsWithEmbeddedCapitalLetters.

So, you can edit an existing topic to add your point of view, and if you refer to SomeOtherTopic, it automatically becomes a link that you can edit.

This is all better experienced than described. If you're unsure of yourself, you're best off playing in the SandBox to experiment with editing Wiki pages.

Once you get in the SandBox, scroll to the bottom, and press the "Edit" button to make changes. Don't worry about messing up the SandBox -- I periodically clean it out.

The next thing to try is the "Recent" button near the top. It shows recently changed pages, so you can follow the "hot" discussions.

Another "starting point" in this Wiki might be CategoryCategories. This is a page full of categories that I've established as starting points -- sort of an index. But unlike other discussion-type website, you can easily create your own categories, and all you need to do to have a page listed in a category is to use the WikiWord name of a category somewhere on that page, and it links automagically.

I'll be in the Wiki quite often -- hope to see you there!

Improved Event Listing

The last big change I've made is a database-driven event calendar. When you go to Events link on the left side of any page, you now see a dynamic list of future events, instead of the hand-entered list that I was too lazy to keep up-to-date... :-)

If you'd rather look at all events that begin after a particular date, you can enter:

http://www.bytesmiths.com/Events?sd=YYYYMMDD

where "YYYY" is the year, "MM" is the month, and "DD" is the day of the event.

You can also enter a date range, to show all events that are between two dates, with:

http://www.bytesmiths.com/Events?sd=YYYYMMDD&ed=YYYYMMDD

I plan to make this easier to use, with menus for entering dates, but this is as far as I got!

Future Plans

This has been a lot of fun, and I'm planning more changes in the next couple months. In particular:

Dynamic content gallery, similar to what I've done with events, so you'll be able to search by keyword, location, etc.

Rating and commentary on gallery images.

Faster site searching.

Private galleries and upload areas for my students.

A links repository, where people can enter interesting Internet links and have them searchable by category.

Month and year views of the events calendar.

Send a virtual postcard of one of my images to a friend!

and probably a few things I haven't thought of yet!

When I get a bunch of these done, I'm going to switch back into "artist" mode, and give the website a new look!

Portland Open Studios

It is a special treat for Carol and I to invite the public into our home and studio on Saturday and Sunday, October 12 and 13, as part of the fourth annual Portland Open Studios.

Have you not done an open studio tour before? It's easy, fun, and inexpensive -- try it! For $12, you get a lovely 16-month calendar that contains representative works of over 100 Portland-area artisans.

Go through the catalog/calendar, pick out the art that interests you, identify those artists by number, then locate them on the included map. Now you have your own, customized, self-guided tour of the studios of some of the best artisans in the Portland area!

This is a non-profit, artist-run, educational organization, so each artist will be giving demonstrations or participating in other educational activities during the weekend.

Due to the large number of participating artists, the tour is split into West and East segments. We are on the first weekend, along with all the other artists who are west of the Willamette River. Artists on the other side of the river open their studios on the following weekend, October 19-20. So you have four days to visit artists!

An achievable goal is to visit 4-6 artists per day. In some densely populated areas, it may be possible to visit a dozen or more artists a day, but it's the ol' jelly sandwich principle: "The more you spread it, the thinner it gets," so you may get more out of spending more time with fewer artists.

If you only want to visit Carol and I, you don't need to pay the $12 fee to purchase the catalog/calendar, but we're hoping that you'll be inclined to do so and visit other artists in this once-a-year opportunity. We've been diligent in recruiting more South Metro artisans, and you can visit nearly a dozen artists without going north of Terwilliger this year, wheras three years ago, there were only two artists participating in West Linn.

Catalog/Calendars can be purchased at all Art Media locations, from participating artists (including us, if we're your first stop!), or from the Portland Open Studios website (shipping $3 extra).

Carol and I are looking forward to having you as our guest on October 12-13!

Recent Exhibits

(Date links go to my Events calendar, where there is additional information, including a map.)

What a great event this is turning out to be, and what a wonderful way to end our outdoor festival season!

With about 50 local artisans, this is turning out to be the South Metro area's premiere arts event. While other events scorn local artists, choosing instead to bring in vendors from California to Montana, this event demonstrates both that art is alive and well in Clackamas County, and that local people prefer to support local artists.

I continue to be amazed at the depth and breadth of local talent. I especially appreciated Roger Long's "Branchwater" and tales of the salmon, Jeri Gedrose's tireless work with the children's art activities booth, Judy Wise's skillful management of booth space layout, and Dana Fontaine's arrangements for the stage acts.

By mentioning these few, I don't at all mean to slight any of the others, including the great board members who worked tirelessly to make this festival a success.

There is a lot of positive energy here; look for this festival to be a continuing influence on South Metro arts in the future!

This Month

With the exception of Portland Open Studios, we switch from "exhibit mode" to "class mode" this month, teaching classes on photography, image manipulation, and beadwork. Many of these are already full; if you can't get in, look for us in the winter term, starting in January.

through October 11,Skylight Gallery, Clackamas, Oregon. (free) Eight of Jan's large translucent prints are featured in the group show, titled "Natural World." Unfortunately, it is only open 9-5, Monday-Friday, but if you're in the Clackamas Town Center area during business hours, please stop in and have a look!

through October, 5th Avenue Suites, Washington & 4th, Portland, Oregon. A 48"x18" print of "Crater Lake Sunrise" has been selected by this hotel for display in their lobby.

October 7, 14 (two Monday evenings): Beading 1 (Carol): Rosemont Ridge Middle School, West Linn, Oregon. You'll learn basic brick stitch and peyote stitch, and how to incorporate them into different jewelry pieces, and will make two bracelets in class.

October 8, 15, 22, 29, November 5, 12, 19, 26 (eight Tuesday evenings): Art & Science of Photography (Jan): $60, plus estimated $77 for film and processing, Rosemont Ridge Middle School, West Linn, Oregon. This is a new class in a new, eight-week format, covering the best of both my previous four-week classes, plus new material.

October 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6, 13, 20, December 4 (eight Wednesday evenings, excluding Thanksgiving eve): Photoshop for Photographers (Jan): $92, including computer lab fee, Canby High School, Canby, Oregon. This is a new class in a new, eight-week format, with much new material, as well as that covered in my previous four-week classes.

October 14 - January 14,Skylight Gallery, Clackamas, Oregon. (free) Carol's been selected to exhibit in the Skylight Gallery, in a group show titled "Functional Art." that will include many of Carol's intricately hand-made beaded amulet bags and other jewelry. Unfortunately, it is only open 9-5, Monday-Friday, but if you're in the Clackamas Town Center area during business hours, please stop in and have a look!

Top Ten Titles

It's been fun tracking total sales, but it's also been misleading. I've been doing this long enough that old, semi-popular material pushed newer images out of the "Top Ten" list, no matter how wildly popular they might have been on introduction.

Since I've recently retired a few images, and will soon be adding new issues, it seemed to be a good time to change the way this works.